In late 19th-century Sicily, the noble Uzeda family—whose lineage dates back to the ancient viceroys that ruled those lands—fights to preserve its waning power in the face of the newly unified Italian regime.

1828. In the wake of the repression of revolutionary movements in Southern Italy, three young friends join Giuseppe Mazzini's republican and unificationist cause. Their idealism will clash with the inevitable disillusionment as they grow apart over the decades.

1848, Tuscan countryside. Edo and Lupo are two peasants running away after having robbed their boss. Chased by mercenaries, they'll meet bandits, damsels in distress, eccentric nobles, and revolutionaries along the way.

Franco, a young man of noble descent, marries Luisa, daughter of a humble clerk, against his grandmother's will.

The docufictional narration of the genesis of the Risorgimento epic from the birth of Vittorio Emanuele II until the First War of Independence (1849), of which the Proclama is the epilogue.

During the Battle of Custoza (1848), a platoon of Piedmontese soldiers has barricaded itself in a secluded house, surrounded by the Austrian enemies. The captain commits his destiny and the one of his soldiers to the young tambourinist, a Sardinian child animated by an overwhelming patriotic spirit.